Idiom
make a silk purse of a sow's ear
Meaning
To produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear with these cheap materials.”
“You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear using this low-quality data.”
“The chef tries to make a silk purse of a sow's ear with spoiled fruit.”
“The designer tried to renovate the old, broken shed, but she soon realized she could not make a silk purse of a sow's ear.”
“The director hoped a famous actor would save the terrible script, but even a star cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear.”
“My brother thinks he can turn that rusty car into a luxury vehicle, but you really cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear.”
“Despite the architect's brilliant vision for the crumbling ruins, he eventually admitted that one cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear when the foundation is entirely rotten.”
Examples
simple
“You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear with these cheap materials.”
“You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear using this low-quality data.”
“The chef tries to make a silk purse of a sow's ear with spoiled fruit.”
contextual
“The designer tried to renovate the old, broken shed, but she soon realized she could not make a silk purse of a sow's ear.”
“The director hoped a famous actor would save the terrible script, but even a star cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear.”
“My brother thinks he can turn that rusty car into a luxury vehicle, but you really cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear.”
complex
“Despite the architect's brilliant vision for the crumbling ruins, he eventually admitted that one cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear when the foundation is entirely rotten.”
Origin
The expression was coined by Stephen Gosson in 1579. It appears on page 62v of his work, The Ephemerides of Phialo: Deuided Into Three Bookes.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated